Reid was born in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, to working class Roman Catholic parents; his grandparents were of mixed denomination. His grandfather was "a staunch Church of Scotland Presbyterian and his grandmother a poor and illiterate Irish peasant."[3] His mother, Mary, was a factory worker and father, Thomas, was a postman with a passionate belief in education being the means of liberating the working classes.[3]

Reid attributes his success to hard work and a good education. Like his successor as Scottish Secretary, Helen Liddell he attended St Patrick's Secondary School, Coatbridge. The headmaster of St Patrick's, James Breen, was described as being driven by the belief that working class children could make good in their lives provided there was discipline.[3] The teenage Reid showed an early talent for organisation and political activism by leading a strike in protest at a school rule that forced children who arrived early to school to wait outside in all weathers, including the bitter cold and wet winters. "If we weren't allowed in before 9 o'clock, we weren't going in after 9 o'clock" Reid is quoted as saying.[3] Eventually the Headmaster conceded and the strike ended.

Leaving school at 16, Reid, decided not to go to university but instead took a series of jobs, including construction work on an oil pipeline and another in insurance. It is this latter job that Reid quotes as opening his eyes politically. He was assigned to the tenements of the East End of Glasgow after the city was hit by storms in late 1968 and saw poverty of a sort he didn't know existed: a sick infant sleeping in a wooden box, in a damp-ridden room, a distracted old woman buying coal for a tenement flat that didn't have a coal fire. Soon after this he joined the Labour Party.[3]

Reid was married to Cathie McGowan from 1969[7] until her sudden death from a heart attack in 1998.[4][8] In 2002 he married the JewishBrazilian film director Carine Adler.[9] According to The Guardian (23 September 2006) Reid arrived in the House of Commons "drunk one day and tried to force his way on to the floor to vote. When an attendant stepped forward to stop him, Reid threw a punch".[clarification needed] Reid stopped drinking in 1994 and stopped smoking cigarettes in 2003.[10] In May 2007 it was alleged that Reid had given up alcohol as a consequence of having harassed a fellow Labour MP in the early 1990s whilst drunk.[11]

According to George Galloway, Reid is an accomplished singer and guitar player and "taught a whole generation of Labour activists, including yours truly, the entire IRA songbook". The claim about his musicianship is supported by the fact that, in January 2001, he was named an honorary member of the Scottish group "The Big Elastic Band" and promised to play guitar on their next album.[12] He was an early member of Labour Friends of Israel.[13]

Reid grew up in a very working class environment. He is intensely proud of his industrial working class upbringing[14] and one of his favourite mottoes is "better a broken nose than a bended knee".[15]

At university Reid, for a time, became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain of which he has said: "I used to be a Communist. I used to believe in Santa Claus".[16] The secretary of the Young Communist League, Jim White, who went to university with Reid, recalls: "He told us he was a Leninist and Stalinist. Although I was suspicious about his transition, we couldn't tell if he was acting. We let him join." On securing the support of the Communists and Labour students, Reid was able to run for president of the students' union and win the election. His political career was launched.[7]

He moved on from Leninism after leaving university with his doctorate, and became a researcher for Scottish Labour party. Reid believes that any socialist, or indeed any rational person, should be a revisionist on principle.[17]

His intellectual familiarity with Marxism helped him in the early 1980s when he compared the split within Labour between the left-wing Tony Benn and Neil Kinnock as one between Bennite "quasi-Leninists", and "Luxemburgers", (named after the German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg), who favoured the more soft-left Neil Kinnock. He lent his support to Kinnock.[5]

As an advisor to Kinnock, Reid was one of the earliest to embark on the crusade to reform and modernise the Labour Party.[3] In 1983, after the Labour Party's worst ever election defeat, he had, at Kinnock's request, put on a single sheet of paper what had been making Labour so unelectable for the past few years. "Leaderless, unpatriotic, dominated by demagogues, policies 15 years out of date", Reid had written. He was contemptuous of the party campaign machine which Harold Wilson had, in 1955, called a "penny-farthing". "The only difference now is that it's a rusty penny farthing. Fix all these things and you will fix the party" Reid is quoted as saying.[3] He regards New Labour as a natural development of Bevanism.

Elected to Parliament in 1987 as Member of Parliament for Motherwell North, within two years Reid was appointed to the shadow Front Bench as spokesperson for Children. In 1990 Reid was appointed a Defence spokesperson.[3]

When the former Yugoslavia was breaking up in the 1990s Reid considered it important to start a dialogue with the Bosnian Serbs.[15] During the Bosnian War, Reid struck up a friendship with the Serb rebel leader, Radovan Karadžić, later to be indicted as a war-criminal. Reid admitted he spent three days at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadžić in 1993.[5] This was during the period (April 1992 – July 1995) in which the crimes for which Karadžić was indicted in 1995 were committed.[18]

When Labour came to power in 1997 John Reid served as Minister of State for Defence. He became Minister of State for Transport in 1998. Reid held seven Cabinet posts in seven years while Tony Blair was Prime Minister:[14]

After the 1997 election, Reid was the obvious choice to become the Armed Forces Minister, where he played a key role in the then Defence SecretaryGeorge Robertson's Strategic Defence Review.[3] Reid gained considerable praise for the review; with some commentators going so far as to describe his success in cutting military expenditure at the same time as winning over the defence chiefs as "brilliant".[4][5]

In his first month, the Scottish Parliament was re-established after an interval of 300 years.[23] The reconstituted Scotland Office had been much reduced in importance with devolution but Reid used the position to build his profile, prepared to put the government's case on any issue against TV interviewers.[24]

After Donald Dewar, Scotland's respected First Minister, died in 2000 Reid's name was even mentioned as a possible replacement.[24] In fact Reid was left to deal with much of the fall-out after the death and would be increasingly at loggerheads with the new Labour First Minister, Henry McLeish, whom Reid felt was taking the Parliament down a nationalist path.[5] The situation became so strained between the two that in an unguarded moment McLeish publicly labelled Reid "a patronising bastard".[25]

Throughout his period of office he was continually engaged in talks with all side of the community in an attempt to reduce the level of inter-community troubles.[26] He blamed Paramilitaries from both sides of the community for on-going violence. He confronted both, on the ground, at a violent east Belfast interface, where he met loyalist residents of Cluan Place and then had talks with nationalist residents in the nearby Short Strand.[27]

Reid ruled that ceasefires proclaimed by the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force could no longer be recognised by the government because of their involvement in sectarian attacks and murders.[28] At the same time he put pressure on the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) to make a move on arms decommissioning to help end the political impasse, whilst acknowledging that putting its weapons beyond use would be a difficult step to take.[29]

It was in this context that, in October 2001 he welcomed a Gerry Adams speech as a "highly significant" step which he hoped would pave the way for a "groundbreaking" move by the IRA to disarm which would transform the political situation.[30] And following the IRA's decision Reid responded by announcing the immediate demolition of British Army security bases and announcing a reduction in troop levels as the security situation improved,[31] effectively beginning a process which culminated in September 2005, when the disarmament monitor for Northern Ireland, the Canadian General John de Chastelain announced that the IRA had given up its entire arsenal of weapons after more than three decades of armed struggle against British rule.[32]

Reid oversaw the final stages of the transformation of the RUC into the Police Service Northern Ireland, and the first endorsement of the service by representatives of the Nationalist community.[33]

Political problems continued, resulting in the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly a year later in October 2002.[34] The peace process was to be put on hold until there was a "clear and unequivocal commitment" that the IRA would disband. Reid made an emergency statement to Parliament announcing direct rule in the interim.[35]

In the interim, Reid also had to deal with continuing domestic problems; including those with loyalist ceasefires, sectarian murders and the tinderbox of Holy Cross primary school in north Belfast (that ignited the worst rioting in the city in years). But, so far as 10 Downing Street was concerned, Reid had gone a long way to delivering the rarest of political commodities – success in Northern Ireland.[5]

As a purely political post his trouble-shooting skills were employed as the Labour Government's chief spokesperson earning him the nickname "Minister for the Today Programme". (the Today Programme being the BBC's morning current affairs radio show)[19]

One of Reid's key challenges was to keep the trade unions (the Labour Party's main funders) on-side despite the antipathy shown by the Unions to many of the Government's proposals. As part of this Reid agreed to look at proposals to stop private contractors exploiting low paid workers (a key Union demand).[37]

Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council[edit]

In March 2003, Robin Cook resigned as Leader of the House of Commons due to his objections to the legality of Britain's involvement in the Iraq war. John Reid was appointed to take over the Office brief on 4 April as a heavyweight figure was more likely to ensure the Commons' continued support for the war.[38] He held the position for only three months and was succeeded by Peter Hain.

John Reid was made Secretary of State for Health in June 2003, replacing Alan Milburn after the latter's resignation. He was reportedly less than happy with the appointment. He was reported by Private Eye at the time as reacting "Oh fuck, not health."[39] But Reid had established himself as one of Tony Blair's most trusted ministers and his appointment as Health Secretary took him into his fourth cabinet job in less than a year.[21]

At Health Reid saw himself as a reformer, controversially increasing capacity by introducing private companies to run treatment centres for knee, hip and eye operations. He claimed this provided extra staff and extra capacity to help treat more patients in the NHS at an unprecedented rate.[40]

He was severely criticised for giving GPs a 22% pay rise while allowing them to opt out of weekend and evening treatment.[41] This was the start of a pattern whereby Reid would side with powerful bureaucratic forces in the ministries he ran.

Reid also introduced plans to increase the number of smoke-free workplaces and improve diet and sexual health as part of a major drive to improve public health in England[42] and began a major public consultation as a precursor to parliamentary proposals aimed at improving the nation's health.[43] He also encouraged volunteer engagement in the health service.[44]

Many of his changes caused criticism and controversy, which Reid was not afraid to take head on, delivering a staunch defence of Labour's reform programme to the party's annual conference. He made the case for extending to all the choices normally only available to those who could afford them.[4] Unsurprisingly he sometimes made the "Big Government" left wing of the Labour Party gasp.[15]

Reid's management style was considered autocratic by some and he came under considerable fire from National Health Service (NHS) leaders. A former director at the Department of Health criticised his style of leadership, saying: "[W]hen John Reid came in he produced a series of major policy changes without consulting people, without even sharing them at draft stage... It's not surprising, therefore, that [the NHS managers] didn't feel the same level of ownership [of the policy changes].[45]

Health Secretary John Reid tasked NHS hospitals with achieving a year on year reduction to halve the hospital superbug MRSA up to and beyond March 2008.

Official rates showed year on year increases in England since measurement of MRSA bloodstream infections began in 2001. He was the first Health Minister to bring in tough challenges for hospitals to reduce healthcare associated infections.[46]

As Health Secretary, Reid had been in favour of limiting the government's proposed smoking ban as much as possible. In their 2005 election manifesto, he introduced a pledge to ban smoking in all places where food was served. His successor Patricia Hewitt favoured a complete ban. Reid won in the cabinet, gaining an exemption for private clubs and pubs that did not serve food.[47] The House of Commons rebels proposing a complete ban were successful when MPs were given a free vote on the issue. Patricia Hewitt voted with the rebels against the Cabinet's proposals.[48]

In March 2005, John Reid called BBC TV Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman a "West London wanker," after Paxman introduced him in an interview as "an all-purpose attack dog" who "came out snarling and spent less time promoting Labour policy than trying to put the opposition into intensive care". Paxman later accused Reid of having a chip on his shoulder and Reid accused Paxman of class prejudice.[49]

At Defence Reid argued that "democracy, restraint and respect for the rule of law are at the core of our national beliefs… even if they create a short-term tactical disadvantage, they represent a long-term strategic advantage – by basing our actions on principle, law, morality and right".[51] At the same time he raised questions about "the adequacy of the international legal framework in the light of modern developments in conflict". He suggested that "the body of relevant international rules and conventions should, where beneficial, be strengthened", especially "to cope with conflict against non-state actors such as the international terrorist… this means extending, not reducing, such conventions".[51]

Reid committed 3,300 troops to Helmand province, Afghanistan in January 2006.[52] As Secretary of State he is often misquoted as saying troops would leave "without a single shot being fired." He actually said "We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years and without firing one shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction." [53] By 2008, 4 million bullets had been fired by the British armed forces.[54]

Reid took an aggressive approach to defending his government's international policy. Speaking ahead of a conference on NATO modernisation in Germany on 4 February 2006, Reid asserted in a press interview that "no institution has the divine right to exist".[55] Similarly on 19 March 2006, in response to former interim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi's claim that Iraq is in the grip of civil war, Reid defended the British Government's contrary view. He stated: "Every single politician I have met here [in Iraq] from the prime minister to the president, the defence minister and indeed Iyad Allawi himself said to me there's an increase in the sectarian killing, but there's not a civil war and we will not allow a civil war to develop".[56]

On 29 April 2006, police found a small quantity (less than 1 gram) of cannabis resin in a guest room of his home.[57] Reid denied all knowledge of the drug, and Strathclyde Police have stated that he is not under suspicion of having committed any offence. The street value of the drugs would have been less than 85p.

By the time he arrived at the Home Office, Reid was seen as one of the government's most effective performers over the previous decade, being described by many commentators as a bruiser, but with a strong academic leaning.[4]

At the Home Office Reid hit the ground running.[4] He contended that rapid global change and the associated challenges of mass migration, terrorism and organised crime had overwhelmed the outdated Home Office approach.[59] Reid caused considerable controversy by attacking the leadership and management systems previously in place in the Home Office. He infamously declared it to be "not fit for purpose", adding the phrase to the British political lexicon, and vowed to "make the public feel safe".[60]

Reid's comments were rebuffed by Clarke,[61] who criticised his comments in a defence of his own period in office.[62]

Within 100 days of joining the Department, he had published three reform plans for a radical transformation. They included 8,000 more prison places; a 40 per cent reduction in headquarters staff by 2010; a commitment to making the Immigration and Nationality Directorate an agency with a uniformed border staff and tough new powers. radical overhaul of the core systems and structures within the Home Office itself, reform of IND, re-balancing of the criminal justice system, reform of the probation service and the review of counter-terrorist capabilities.[59]

He condemned the probation service for letting people down, and argued for fundamental reform.[63] An early decision during his time at the Home Office was to move child molesters living in hostels near schools further away from them.[64] Reid also caused controversy in August 2006 by calling for the creation of an independent committee to impose a national annual limit on the number of immigrants entering the UK.[65]The Guardian claimed that Reid was "playing to the racist gallery" and compared his plans to Soviet-style central planning of the economy.[66]

Because of the prisons' overcrowding crisis in Birmingham, on 9 October 2006 he announced emergency measures amid fears that the prison population was nearing maximum capacity.[67] John Reid has announced his support of measures to restrict the ability of extremist messages to be disseminated on the Internet so as to make the web a more hostile place for terrorists.[68]

In 2006 Reid and the Home Office lost their appeal against the High Court ruling in the Afghan hijackers case 2006.[69] In this controversial case, a group of nine Afghan men who hijacked a Boeing 727 in February 2000, while fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, were granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom.[70] The original ruling in 2004 ruled that returning the men to Afghanistan would breach their human rights under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Home Office granted the men "temporary leave to remain", which involved restricting their freedom of movement and did not allow them to work;[71] in 2006, the High Court ruled that the men must be granted "discretionary leave to remain", which includes the right to work.[15] Reid challenged the ruling in the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Home Office "should have the power to grant only temporary admission to failed asylum seekers who are only allowed to stay in the UK due to their human rights".[71]

Reid accused government's critics of putting national security at risk by their failure to recognise the serious nature of the threat facing Britain.[72] and called for reform of the human rights laws.[73]

From 1 August 2006 Reid introduced a new warning system to alert the public to the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda and other terror groups in order to increase public understanding and awareness of the terrorist threat. Announcing the plans, Reid told MPs that the terrorist threat would only be overcome by "united action by all of us" and urged the public to remain vigilant at all times.[74] The threat level, already at "Severe", the second highest level,[75] then moved even higher.

On 10 August, Reid announced that the UK had been put on its highest state of security alert, after police said they'd thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft flying between the UK and the US using explosives smuggled in carry-on luggage.[76] Extreme security measures had been put in place at all the country's airports.[77][78]

Reid revealed that the alleged terror plot could have caused civilian casualties on an "unprecedented scale" and security sources said an attack was believed to have been imminent.[79] With 21 people in custody, Reid said he believed the 'main players' had been 'accounted for' but emphasised that that still left possible "unknown" players.[80] Reid also revealed that at least four major plots had been thwarted in the previous year[81] and security sources confirmed that two dozen major terrorist conspiracies were under investigation. Reid issued a dire warning against losing the "battle of ideas" with al-Qa'eda, and called for an urgent but controversial escalation in the propaganda war, saying that the government needed to do much more to win the battle of ideas.[82]

Reid then led European Ministers in efforts to make the Internet a "more hostile" place for terrorists and crack down on people using the web to share information on explosives or spread propaganda.[83]

In September 2006, Reid addressed Muslims in a run-down part of east London, warning them that fanatics were looking to groom and brainwash children for suicide bombings. During the speech he was confronted and barracked by Abu Izzadeen, also known as Omar or Trevor Brooks. Mr Brooks is a leader of the UK-banned Al Ghurabaa, an offshoot of the terrorist-supporting Al-Muhajiroun – a man who many accuse of glorifying terrorism and inciting racial hatred during nightly conversations (often using the nom de plume Abu Baraa) on a New York-based chatroom service.[84]

After the high profile at the Home Office, his tough stance on terrorism and his domination of the headlines in the aftermath of the alleged terror plot, Reid was increasingly tipped by Labour MPs to run for the party's leadership.[85]

In fact, Reid kept everyone guessing about his leadership intentions until the very end. Ultimately the surprise was that, having decided not to stand, he announced his intention to quit frontline politics and return to the backbenches. It was speculated that, as a true Blairite believer, he either wanted to carry the torch of reform himself as Labour leader or else quit the scene altogether to make way for new blood.[14]

In May 2007, Reid announced his intention to resign from the Cabinet when Tony Blair left office, and stated his plans to return to the Labour backbenches. He stated he would support Gordon Brown in the leadership election and his administration.[86] In September 2007 he announced that he would not seek re-election at the next general election.[87]

Reid was linked with a return to cabinet in June 2009 under Gordon Brown but reportedly turned down the offer.[88]

On the issue of Labour anti-terrorism laws, he voted against only allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark if it is in connection with a terrorism investigation.[95] He voted against changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may apply to the court for a control order...."[96]

In March 2003, he voted against a motion that the case had not yet been made for war against Iraq,[97] and voted for the declaration of war against Iraq.[98] In June 2007, he voted against a motion calling for an independent inquiry by a committee of Privy Counsellors into the Iraq War.[99]

On 10 May 2010 Reid argued on BBC television that David Cameron should become the next Prime Minister in the interests of honouring the democratic wishes of the British people with the Conservative Party having received more votes than any other party[100] – even though had Labour and the Liberal Democrats formed an alliance, their combined votes would outnumber Conservative ones at the 2010 General Election[101] – stating that a Labour / Liberal Democrat alliance would still not form a parliamentary majority.[102][103]

In April 2011, to the distress of Labour colleagues,[106] he successfully campaigned with the Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, and others against changes to voting. During the campaign he made the claim that the Alternative Vote would violate the principle of 1 person 1 vote. He wrote that "it gives the supporters of unpopular fringe candidates numerous votes, while mainstream voters only get one".[107]

In June 2014 Reid appeared in a full-page advert in the Scottish Catholic Observer, encouraging readers to vote against Scottish independence in the September referendum. The advert failed to state who had paid for it, which is a breach of Electoral Commission rules, and following complaints Reid revealed that it had been paid for by an organisation led by Willie Haughey.[108]

Following the general scandal over MP expenses in 2009, Sir Thomas Legg requested £2,731.88 be repaid, but Dr Reid chose to repay a total of £7,336.51.[109] A later offer to refund £4,604.63 was accepted in 2010.[110]

On 28 September 2007, it was announced John Reid would become Chairman of Celtic Football Club[111] taking over from Brian Quinn. His appointment was ratified by Celtic's shareholders on 19 November 2007.[112] Sports journalist Graham Spiers found him "an engaging and intriguing Celtic chairman".[113]

Reid is a lifelong supporter of the club and described the appointment as "an honour and a privilege"[114] Additionally he holds "Like every schoolboy who supported Celtic, I always dreamed of pulling on the Hoops and scoring at Celtic Park. I never made it as a player, but this is certainly the next best thing.

"It will be an honour and a privilege not only to take up this position, but also to follow in the footsteps of a man like Brian, whose reputation for integrity, achievement and commitment to Celtic is of the very highest order. He has left a proud legacy of sporting and financial success that stands comparison with anyone's and I am looking forward immensely to continuing those traditions."

At Celtic's Annual General Meeting held on 29 October 2009, Reid highlighted the plight of the club's closest rivals Rangers. In response to a question on the club's spending, Reid said:

"If you start getting into a position where you are running up debts that you cannot afford, spending money you don't have, it is the road not to success but to ruin.

"The people who decide whether we will sell players or buy players are the management and the board, who are accountable to the fans and shareholders. Not some anonymous director of a bank."

As in politics, Reid has become a controversial chairman who has gained a reputation with fans and other clubs as a confrontational figure. During the 2010–2011 SPL season, Reid is alleged to have exacerbated an already volatile situation between his club and referees after a series of decisions made by a number of Scotland's referees came under question; Reid called for one referee to be fired and that all referees should disclose their 'allegiance' (i.e. which team they support).[115] This pressure, was a factor in the decision made by Scottish referees to take strike action.

In late 2008 it was announced that John Reid would be taking up the post of honorary Professor at the University College London and become the chairman of the newly created Institute of Security and Resilience Studies (ISRS) at UCL. Of the institute Reid said: "I believe that the ISRS can play a vital role in developing innovative thinking and producing new solutions to help us all be better prepared for the demanding challenges of today's world. The resilience to withstand, recover and move on from crisis is now an issue requiring both academic study and wider understanding at all levels of society. Peoples and nations are now being put to the test, not only by the more traditional issues of conflict, wars and inter-state threats but also a range of new security issues. Countries, societies and economies that cannot develop better the capacity to prevent, resist and recover will be left vulnerable and exposed. I am delighted to be able to use my experience in this new academic endeavour".[116][117]